Zepto has begun rolling out Real Lens, a feature that lets users view actual photographs of fresh produce available at their nearest dark store, clicked each morning. The tool is accessible on individual product pages across the fruits and vegetables category, where users can toggle between the standard listing image and the real photo. Each image carries a timestamp positioned to buyers as a visual guarantee of what they are ordering before it lands at their doorstep.
The move comes as quick commerce platforms face persistent consumer complaints about the quality of perishables delivered through their networks. Bruised, wilting, or overripe and underripe fruits and vegetables have become recurring grievances for quick commerce customers. The inconsistency in delivery is driven in part by the 2-3-day journey produce often takes from farm or mandi to dark store to doorstep.
Bridging the Quality Gap
While packaged food sold online must have at least 30% of its shelf life remaining — or a minimum of 45 days before expiry — at the point of delivery under FSSAI’s directive to e-commerce food business operators, fresh produce sold loose is not covered by these requirements and remains exempt from displaying expiry or best-before dates. This has meant consumers have historically had no way to assess quality before purchase.
Zepto did not respond to queries on the feature’s rollout timeline and city availability at the time of going to press.
Real Lens is the latest in a series of steps Zepto has taken to shore up its fresh produce credentials. The company launched Harvest Store in premium neighbourhoods of Mumbai and Bengaluru late last year, offering curated selections of imported fruits, vegetables and gourmet products. Rival Swiggy’s Instamart piloted Nectr, a similar premium produce offering, in select Bengaluru pin codes around the same period.
Freshness vs. Speed
The incumbents’ push comes amid growing competition from quick commerce startups such as FirstClub, Origin Fresh, Handpickd, Freshly, LoveLocal, and Pluckk, which have collectively raised over $80 million by arguing that perishables need supply chains built around freshness rather than speed. Industry estimates peg monthly fresh produce sales on quick commerce platforms at Rs 600-700 crore, with the premium segment at roughly 10%.
Real Lens effectively concedes a point the challengers have been making: that buying produce online has, until now, been a blind transaction. But whether a single photograph of one item can serve as a reliable marker for an entire batch of produce sold through the day, and whether a signal of transparency at the listing level can substitute for deeper supply chain changes remains an open question, analysts said.